me2.

 

i think 40k for a X MR is reasonable. the car is going to be sick. the "gsr" is my vote tho. those photoshop pics look sick

 

Many of the mags have driven the prototype and held QnA's with the Mitsu engineers.

Its a DSG-type gearbox unique to the Evo,it's not the VW gearbox,but something unique. Its indeed a twin-clutch setup,not an automatic.

Engineers have promised a lag-free shifting experience with mapping software tied into the SAWC systems.

 

Dude stick with what you got, That X will have issues, its a MITSU!

 

Eh,that's what everyone told me when I bought my DSM. But it happily went about it's business running alongside cars like an AMG CLK55,driving in rush hour traffic commutes for 60 miles a day,autocrossing and never breaking down on me. Correctly performed maintenence and proper modding was my ally in that one.

And my Evo? Best car I owned,tracked it,autocrossed it,and despite diring warnings from many here on EvoM,launched at least thrice weekly on the stock clutch.

Im not going to worry about the X,but I cant predict the future.

 

Okay, so conspiracy is too strong a word, but you said you "wouldn't be suprised if the oil companies had something to do with it." Where "it" means today's heavier, safer cars with no better MPG then vehicles from 10-20 years ago. I think the main concern of the environmentalists is that cars become cleaner and put out less pollutants. I have forgotten what statistics I've read by the magnitude can be on the order of 20 to 1 or more if you compare a LEV or ULEV vehicle of today to a car from 10-20 years ago. So MPG isn't the only story. Plus I think the SUV and light duty truck have a lot to do with screwing up the MPG comparisons of older cars. They have gotten a pass when it comes to MPG ratings, but I think all that is coming to an end. IF you compare passenger cars to passenger cars from 70's to 00's, I think it is no doubt that today's cars are lighter, safer, cleaner and get better gas mileage. The SUVs and light trucks are getting harder and harder legislation and will have to catch up soon. I don't think the oil companies caused Honda and Toyota to spend millions on hybrid technology, build lighter smaller better cars and GM, Ford and Chrysler to ignore that market and concentrate on SUVs and light trucks and then the bottom to fall out of that market, and people start buying more fuel effecient, safer and lighter cars. If anything they would have kept gas prices low enough so the market didn't shift so suddenly.

I think Mitsu has spent a lot on the Lancer, it will be interesting to see how it finally does against the Civic and Corolla. I have seen tests that put the Outlander about equal to the Rav4, and maybe a little behind the CR-V, but I think the Lancer might finally be able to be win.

 

LOL cars are not too powerful, nor too fast. People are just too stupid. If they would actually make people take proper driver's education courses (and pay attention) to get their driver's license and not just hand them out like junk mail, we would have fewer accidents and would be able to increase the maximum speed limit on properly designed stretches of highway similar to the German autobahns. Germans have to go to driver's training class for 30 hours and then take in-car training courses for about 30 hours (and it costs about $4000 total). There are actually fewer accidents in Germany per capita than in the states. Amazingly, most of the accidents in Germany are not on the unrestricted speed parts of the autobahns but rather on city streets, with distraction being the reported cause. The biggest factor in implementing this system is getting people to use the left lane for passing only, but it is definitely possible since the German system is obviously effective.

 

I wouldn't necessarily call it safer just because it weighs more. Think of it this way. The less weight, the easier it would be to AVOID the accident. The less weight, the better braking power, cornering.. I think you get my point.

The USA's mandatory safety things are bull crap. I am always going to take out airbags on every car I own, because I wear my seatbelt anyways. I've heard more bad stories from airbags than good.

 

If the government and all the car companies would really care about the safety then there would be an electronic chip that would limit the speeds to 85mph (I don't know what is the highest speed limit in USA so it's just a shot), AND if someone would get caught taking out the chip and going at speeds over 85 then the penalties would be very very stiff (possibly even jail time) so that people would really be discouraged to by-pass the system. I know it's not the cars and it's the people who make the stupid decisions but I guess some people just shouldn't drive powerful cars as they can't handle it or are simply irresponsible, you wanna take your own life that is fine but spare me mine.

I agree with you that there should be a more strict driver education program but I think the part of the reason why it is so easy to get a license in USA is that except in big cities, you really need a car as means of transportation as usually public transportation is either not reliable or simply non-existant which can't be said about Europe or Japan. Besides, cars are a huge part of our economy, car companies, insurance companies, lawyers would lose a lot of revenue if it would be tougher to get a license and a car here.

As far as Autobahn is concerned, well, there maybe not a lot of accidents there but when there is one it usually means a loss of human life as speeds are just too fast to really protect the occupants of the vehicles.

 

Well environment and emissions are one issue but to me the bigger issue is sponsoring terrorist/dictatorship states by purchasing oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. I guess pollution contributes a bit to global warming but whether someone lieks it or not it won't stop Earth into going in to another ice age, it's simply nature, it's simply the way our planet will position itself and shift from the sun, it's a natural process, it happened 30,000 years ago and it will happen again and again. Besides, cars are not the only cause of pollution, there is also nuclear testing (other military experiments), nuclear waste, use of areosols, and the list goes on and on, besides, only 20% of worlds oil production actually goes into automobiles, most of it goes into developing synthetic materials.

And hybrids to me are just a marketing ploy, my friends have the hubrids and they are no where near as efficient as advertised and actually I would rather have an european regular diesel engine than an expensive and overrated hybrid (and lets just wait till the li-ion batheries will need replacement as it is an expensive and not environment friendly process).

As far as Outlander goes, I have driven Rav4, CR-V, and the Outlander and in my book Outlander from driving experience left the best impression on me, the engine is finely tuned, the exhaust gives that little roar, the interior is well designed, nice and clean without an army of unnecessary buttons and it simply is a well though out car from the family point of view (flip-fold tailgate, 2nd row seats slide backward/forward, air condition has a high efficiency compressor that actually doesn't degrade the MPG during summer), and pretty muchI don't care what the magazines have to say about any of the cars as most of them are sponsored by select companies and are biased towards/against companies.

 

Hehe yeah well I guess it doesn't matter... stupid people exist everywhere, and cause just as many accidents/fatalities no matter what they're doing, wether it's some dumba$$ shooting a fellow hunter in the face or a blind old fogie mowing down people at a market, that's life. Some people shouldn't have powerful cars: true. Some people should also not have a driver's license at all. Some people should also not be allowed to have children or pets.


I don't really agree with you about that... if people need a license, they will get it. The public transportation system in the bigger cities in Germany is very good, but immediately outside of the big cities it's pretty much the same as in the states, and the people there need to drive. $4000 is ALOT more money here for the average German citizen than a US citizen (the euro conversion hit them very hard) yet I only know a handful that don't have their DL. Gasoline also costs double what it does in California.

Actually, you'd think that would be true but statistically it's not... fatalities per crash on the autobahn are the same as in the states. Weird, eh?

 

Right, 'cause nobody would ever take a production car to a racetrack.

 

Like it or not but only a small minority of people actually takes their cars to track, let alone production cars, so it won't be a large price to pay for stricter safety rules. Besides, I am not for the strict rules, I am just trying to illustrate that all the safety laws/requirements are BS.

 

And I know a lot of people who failed the drivers test multiple times in Europe and they really needed an automobile to get to work, and no work = no money for a DL. I also know that % wise a lot less people in Europe has a DL than in USA. I also know that on average distances between places are closer than in USA as Europe is pretty condensed compared to USA. Besides, Europeans tend to actually save their money where Americans tend to live on credit so $4000 for a DL in USA would be a big deal especially for younger crowd.

 

Should be mandatory in the US to know how to drive stick. Can't learn stick? Can't drive!